"If you're not smart enough to play a real instrument, they give you two sticks, put you in the back, and call you a drummer."

In the eyes of many people, a percussionist isn't a real musician. After all, how many brain cells can it really take to bang on stuff with sticks? For a single item, probably not many. As a result, it's common for a drummer to be portrayed as, well, stupid. And yet...

Playing percussion adequately often involves managing many more actions and ideas at once than most other instruments. Real drummers often refer to themselves as "percussionists" in an attempt to distance themselves from this trope as well as because many drummers also play general percussion. Even for those who only play drums, to do so at any professional level usually requires either the ability to read musical notation or the talent to create beats/play by ear, and they are the backbone of the band's sound in many genres - so if they are so stupid their musicianship is awful and/or they can't keep rhythm, the entire band will usually sound awful. So it's notTruth in Television for the most part. On the other hand, drum kits are expensive relative to guitars and amps, and require much more practice space; if your drummer is an idiot, it's not all that easy to replace him.

Examples:

K-On! has Ritsu Tainaka. As the Light Music Club's drummer, she isn't particularly stupid, just lazy and forgetful. Although the reason she plays the drums is because she thinks playing the guitar or keyboard is too complicated and would frustrate her.

Vertigo Pop: London is about an aging rock star named Rocky looking to regain his lost youth. In a flashback set in India, a guru offers him some hash to smoke and Rocky's drummer gets envious:

Daz: Hey, I want some of this present. It sounds crazy. Rocky: Sorry, Daz. Not for you. Daz: And why not? Rocky: Because... Because you're a drummer. And drummers... they're not meant to have life-changing transcendental experiences.

Pierce, from Zits. Unworldly, soft-hearted when it comes to living creatures, and lacking impulse control-yes. He's definitely not stupid, though,and the trope rarely if ever is mentioned in the strip.

They didn't really die from stupidity though. They were more a parody of high rates of mortality among musicians. There are several real life examples of "cursed" spots in certain bands, though as with everything else in Spinal Tap, it's turned up to 11 for the film.

Admittedly, that doesn't excuse drummer Mick Shrimpton from taking a bath with a plugged-in toaster resting on the side.

Averted by Rush's drummer Neil Peart, who is incredibly technical in his playing, writes the band's lyrics, has authored several books, and is outright stated by both of his bandmates to "have a bigger brain than [they] do."

Zigzagged but mostly averted by Yoshiki Hayashi of X Japan. He's a virtuoso drummer - and virtuoso classical pianist, who isn't as good with but can capably play guitar, bass, and trumpet. He's also a composer, producer, wrote 90% of the lyrics and music for X Japan and all of it for Violet UK's works, an omniglot, and a fairly sharp businessperson. Alcohol and/or hisoccasionallybadresponsestotroublesomesituations can, however, make it seem true for him if he's caught at the wrong time.

While Dave Grohl averts this, he stated that when Nirvana was in Australia getting a visa to travel to New Zealand, the consultate wrote "musician" on both Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic's documents, but "drummer" on his.

Strongly averted by Lille Gruber of Defeated Sanity, who, in addition to writing most of the band's material, is an experienced jazz drummer and theory nerd with a degree in classical composition as well.

Also averted by Yanic Bercier, former drummer for Canadian death metal band Quo Vadis. He holds a PHD in Physics from Mc Gill University.

When Phil Collins joined the early incarnation of Genesis, although certainly intelligentnote For his audition with the band, he learned the drum parts by listening to other drummers audition; he had never heard them before. And this was while swimming in Peter Gabriel's pool., he found himself falling into this role, playing comic relief to diffuse tensions between the often sarcastic and pissy boarding school graduates that made up the rest of the band.

The movie Yellow Submarine does too, but to a lesser extent. Ringo's clearly not as bright as his bandmates, but he seems more of a Cloud Cuckoo Lander than anything. In the end his quick thinking is what frees Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from their imprisonment, which surprises everyone.

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